"Many brands and individuals mistakenly obsess about shortcut tactics to gain fans and followers instead of investing in their publishing strategies," says Mike Proulx, senior vice president of digital strategy at Hill Holliday.

Think content, advises Proulx. "One’s fandom on whatever social platform grows (and sticks around) if you’re giving them awesome content. Everything that happens within the social media ecosystem is triggered by a piece of content. Brands that are generating interesting content or providing really helpful services to their customers—that’s the stuff that people are going to want to share."

Get-rich-quick schemes don't really work, not even online. "Social media is, at its core, about people, about community," says Proulx. "My team is constantly filtering through the massive amounts of gimmicks that cheapen the value of social media. There is too much emphasis on contests, sweepstakes, custom Facebook tabs, and buying followership. There are no shortcuts in social media. Building influence and community takes time and [a] great deal of passionate effort."